Five hundred years ago this never would’ve been happening. I would say that the sadness of knowing my days are numbered has overtaken me, but day by day as my joints stiffen and my vision dulls, so too do my emotions begin to fade away until all I feel is a numbness. I’ve come to accept my place in this world- my role I must fill as everyone before me once has. It’s what makes our world nowadays go round.

It all started in the times when nature was only used for man to capitalize upon. When the oceans had risen to overtake land, the glaciers had all melted, and every ounce of this Earth was so polluted that no ecosystem could thrive anymore. The consequences of this behavior all came to a head when raging storms forced mankind to move to a place even tsunamis couldn’t reach. Those who refused to leave their source of income, who clung to their convoluted ideas of the world, were killed by Mother Nature herself in turn. The others who left their greed in search of refuge fled to the highest mountains and made a deal. In exchange for their lives, humans agreed to return what had been taken from Mother Nature for thousands of years. In kind, she was gracious and offered them each 100 years to live before she would return to enact their agreement. That agreement was the ultimate sacrifice of each person being returned to the Earth in whatever form it needed at the time.

Apparently, right now Earth needed a tree.

“How are you feeling?”

My gaze slowly turned to the voice that had spoken. Though it was muffled, I could vaguely make out the meaning of her words.

“Thirsty…”

Something stirred behind me in response before a glass of water appeared before me. I didn’t know how it came to be, or how it came to be so quickly but I didn’t think twice before guzzling down the beverage, relief overtaking me at the feeling of being quenched.

“Thank…you.”

I couldn’t hear any response if one was given to my words, but the feeling of something warm and firm around me reassured me that my loved ones understood my gratitude. They all knew the same thing I did- I didn’t have much time left.

“I… love you… all…”

The warmth intensified around me, enveloping me until the cold seeped from my weary bones. Again, I did not hear any responses, but I could feel their love regardless of my lost sight and sound. I could only hope now that whatever happened to me in my final minutes, they would not feel the pain of any kind of loss. I would still be here, only fulfilling a new purpose.

Steadily, as I knew it would, the numbness I had begun to feel grew. I could not feel anything, my vision had grown dark, and there was a pleasant quiet that had overtaken my ears. Like being wrapped in a fluffy blanket that drowned all the world out. I felt as though I was floating, comfortably exisiting in a plane I hadn’t known was there before.

It felt… oddly peaceful.

And as I floating in this quiet existence, rendered myself free to it, I could feel my…thoughts…

slowly…

drifting…

and drifting…away…

until all that was left…

was nothing.